Truth in Metrics: Essence named Programmatic Agency of the Year 2017

11 December 2017

AdExchanger named us their Programmatic Agency of the Year. The acclaimed publisher "ranked the top 10 agencies advancing superior work in programmatic, based on the breadth of their services, their proprietary tools and their skills in applying data and technology to media buys". Among a list of esteemed agencies, we've come out on top and we simply couldn't be prouder.

Here's what they said:

"Essence truly gets programmatic, going the extra mile to deliver on metrics that ensure its clients get value from their buys.

The agency is moving away from last-touch attribution to measure performance against metrics that can’t be gamed, like its “qCPM,” or cost for every 1,000 quality impressions: viewable, on-target, brand-safe, in-geo and within an acceptable frequency range. With regard to open exchange bids, it has built custom tools that ensure quality, like crawling Ads.txt files and checking where buys run at the log level.

“The space has become commoditized to the point that audiences become numb to formats and placements, and the impressions are not impactful,” said Ryan Storrar, head of media activation in EMEA, in a previous AdExchanger interview. “We try to get a read on incrementality of what’s delivered. Programmatic is an impactful channel when done right.”

Essence is also Google’s digital AOR and the top investor in DoubleClick, YouTube and Google Display Network, but buyers are trained across all platforms.

To keep programmatic expertise strong, Essence puts every campaign into a “learnings library” analyzes every six months to determine the optimal frequency or channel mix for clients. Essence buys programmatic for all clients and employs experts across platforms."